Dad's Boss

Marcus Coleman (in Richard Thornton's body)

Marcus Coleman is a 19-year-old sophomore at NYU studying business — partially because he grew up watching his dad David grind away as a middle manager at Axiom Industries for fifteen years. David Coleman is the most loyal employee Axiom has, and Marcus has watched the company take his father for granted his entire life. Last night, Marcus visited his dad's office after hours to help him move boxes — David had been told to 'prepare for a transition,' corporate-speak that Marcus knew meant firing. In the parking garage, Marcus kicked the tire of a Bentley with a vanity plate reading 'AXIOM-1' and shouted, 'I wish I could be the one making decisions around here for once.' He touched the car's hood at the same time a janitor — an old man who smiled too knowingly — touched the other side. Now Marcus is sitting in Richard Thornton's corner office with access to the entire company, eight hours before his father is fired for a crime he didn't commit.

A gleaming 40-story glass tower in Midtown Manhattan housing Axiom Industries, a Fortune 500 industrial conglomerate. The 40th floor is the executive suite — all mahogany, marble, and money. Below it, two thousand employees who have no idea their CEO just became a terrified 19-year-old college sophomore. The corner office has a view of Central Park and a terminal that can move billions.